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Micah 6 : a Parallel Perspective of the Biblical Text Durham E-Theses Micah 6 : A Parallel Perspective of the Biblical Text CONDREA, VASILE,ANDREI How to cite: CONDREA, VASILE,ANDREI (2012) Micah 6 : A Parallel Perspective of the Biblical Text, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7357/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk MICAH 6 A PARALLEL PERSPECTIVE OF THE BIBLICAL TEXT VASILE ANDREI CONDREA MA by research Dissertation Thesis Durham University Department of Theology and Religion 2012 This dissertation is the product of my own work, and the work of others has been properly acknowledged throughout. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 2 Abbreviations → related to textual linguistics: refers to changes from FLC to SLC ↔ related to textual linguistics: refers to continuation forms A Codex Alexandrinus B Codex Vaticanus BA Biblical Aramaic BDB Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, The Brown-Driver- Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962). Basil Basil the Great BH Biblical Hebrew BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Catena Catena group Cyril Cyril of Alexandria FLC first level of communication IMP Imperative L Lucianic recension Chrysostom John Chrysostom Las Fragmenta Sangallensia L-S H. George Liddell, R. Scott, P. G. W. Glare, and A. A. Thompson, Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996). LXX Septuagint M Codex Marchalianus MT Massoretic Text PL Plural SG Singular SLC second level of communication 3 SNC simple nominal sentence Theodore Theodore of Mopsuestia Theodoret Theodoret of Cyr Theophylact Theophylact of Acrida TL textual linguistic V Codex Venetus W Codex Washington ZAW Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 4 Contents Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 6 1. Literature review on Micah 6 ............................................................................................ 9 2.1. Hebrew Syntax and Alviero Niccacci’s Proposal ........................................................... 18 2.1.1 Negations ..................................................................................................... 22 2.1.2. Main features of poetry ................................................................................ 23 2.1.3. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 25 2.2. Text-critical Analysis of MT Micah 6............................................................................. 26 2.3.1. Syntactical Commentary on MT Micah 6 ....................................................................... 41 2.3.2. Translations of Micah 6 ............................................................................... 51 2.3.3. Conclusions .................................................................................................. 61 2.4. Poetic devices in MT Micah 6 ........................................................................................ 62 2.4.1. Poetic devices ................................................................................................... 62 2.4.2. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 70 2.5.1. Commentary on Micah MT 6 ........................................................................................... 72 2.5.2. Division of Micah 6 ......................................................................................... 72 2.5.3. Verse 1-8 .......................................................................................................... 74 2.5.4. Verses 9-16 ...................................................................................................... 80 3. Text-critical Analysis of LXX Micah 6 .......................................................................... 85 3.1. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 111 4. Textual-linguistic Analysis: Targum Micah 6 .............................................................. 116 4.1. Verbal system in Biblical Aramaic ............................................................ 118 4.1.2. Narrative texts ............................................................................................ 118 4.1.3. Direct speech .............................................................................................. 119 4.2. Micah 6 Targum ......................................................................................... 121 4.3. What type of translation is the Targumic version of Micah 6? .................. 132 4.4. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 138 5. Final Discussion and Conclusions ................................................................................ 139 ANNEX 1: Scheme of Syntactical Construct in Biblical Hebrew ............................................. 151 ANNEX 2: Micah 6 Syntactical Scheme ................................................................................... 153 ANNEX 3: Poetic devices Micah 6:1-8 ..................................................................................... 155 ANNEX 4: Poem division Micah 6 ........................................................................................... 156 ANNEX 5: Scheme of Syntactical Construct in Biblical Aramaic ............................................ 157 ANNEX 6: Synoptic View of MT and BA Syntactical Forms .................................................. 158 ANNEX 7: Micah 6 - Tabulation ............................................................................................... 160 5 Introduction Micah’s name means ‘Who is like YHWH’1 and refers to the author of the fourth book in the scroll of the Twelve Minor Prophets2. This name appears several times in the Bible but only two of them (Jer. 26:18 and Mic. 1:1) contain the localisation ‘of Moresheth’, which is a village in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The superscription of his book tells us that he acted ‘in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah’ and his preaching concerned Samaria and Jerusalem.3 In the final form the Book of Micah presents an alternation between prophecies of judgement (1:2-2:11; 3:1-12; 5:14-7:7) and salvation (2:12-13; 4:1-5:13; 7:8-20).4 The aim of this dissertation thesis is to offer a parallel presentation of the sixteen verses of the sixth chapter from the Book of Micah. The main focus will be on analysing these particular verses as they were handed to us in the Masoretic Text (MT), the Septuagint (LXX) and in the Targum. Two main tools are selectively used in this analysis. Both in the MT and LXX, Micah 6 raises many questions regarding the interpretation of particular forms because of their ambiguity or their obscure meaning. Consequently, a main focus of this research dissertation will be on searching for the original text of the MT and LXX. This particular analysis will offer the critical text which I believe is the closest copy of their Vorlage. Both these textual traditions will be separately analysed as they have been proven to be representative and self-standing in the history of the transmission of the biblical text. Given the fact that the textual criticism for the Aramaic Targums of the 1 James Luther Mays, Micah: A Commentary (London: SCM, 1976), p. 1. 2 I. Francis Andersen and David Noel Freedman, Micah: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York, London: Doubleday, 2000), p. 6. 3 A pertinent evaluation of superscriptions in the Book of the Twelve is available in G. M. Tucker, 'Prophetic Superscriptions and the Growth of a Canon', in Canon and Authority: Essays in Old Testament Religion and Theology, ed. George W. Coats and Burke O. Long (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977), p. 56-70; J. D. W. Watts, 'Superscriptions and Incipits in the Book of the Twelve', in Reading and Hearing the Book of the Twelve, ed. James Nogalski and Marvin A. Sweeney (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000), p. 110-124. 4 Marc Leroy, La formation du livre des quatre: Création théologico-littéraire en Juda durant l’époque néo-babylonienne (Jerusalem: École Biblique, [course support] 2011), p. 97. 6 Bible is a rather young discipline, this study will not venture into such uncharted territory.5 The second research tool is represented by the employment of the textual-linguistic syntactical analysis, a method which stems from Harald Weinrich’s
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